Lebanese get naked in support of skier

Friday

Feb 14, 2014 at 12:01 AMFeb 14, 2014 at 11:25 AM

BEIRUT - Free-speech and women's-rights supporters have posted semi-nude photographs of themselves on the Internet to protest an official condemnation of an Olympic skier who posed for a topless calendar shoot.

BEIRUT — Free-speech and women’s-rights supporters have posted semi-nude photographs of themselves on the Internet to protest an official condemnation of an Olympic skier who posed for a topless calendar shoot.

Switzerland-based Jacky Chamoun, 22, who is skiing for Lebanon at the Winter Games, has apologized for photos and a video that appeared online, saying that they were never meant to be published and that she understood the criticism inside the conservative country.

But after Lebanon’s sports minister said the photos had damaged the country’s reputation, several of her compatriots expressed anger at the outrage in a nation racked by sectarian strife and where violence against women often goes unchallenged.

“You have women facing beatings … you have explosions and so little security here, and people are completely distracted by a few pictures,” said Tarek Muqadam, a photographer who offered to take free naked portraits at a studio in Beirut for the online campaign.

Dozens of men and women posed topless or naked, holding strategically placed signs with the slogan: “I am not naked.”

“I don’t know how much the campaign in and of itself can change anything, but at least it’s a step to get people to think about changing, to think about what’s going on,” Tarek said. “Lebanon used to be known for its freedoms.”

Lebanon is more open than many politically and socially conservative neighbors in the Middle East. But activists say that censorship is on the rise and that women’s rights have long been neglected.

The original photo of Chamoun, who also competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics, was featured in a 2013 ski calendar. The skier stands in pink underpants on a snowy summit of Lebanon’s Faraya ski resort, holding a ski over her breasts.

But local news channels unearthed a “making of” video that showed her topless and called it a scandal.

Chamoun’s supporters have contrasted the minister’s call for an inquiry with the lack of government action on violence against women. Last week, a Lebanese man bludgeoned his wife to death in front of their children.

Since the campaign was launched on Wednesday, its Facebook page has garnered more than 14,000 “ likes.”

Even companies have joined in. Almaza, a popular Lebanese beer brand owned by Heineken, posted a photo of its green bottle without a label. Volkswagen Lebanon posted a picture of a convertible Beetle with the slogan “Taking our top off since 1949.”